The overall world cup 2018 was decided on the last boulder when Akiyo Noguchi flashed to put pressure on Miho Nonaka. She also flashed, secured the overall title, and actually starting cry holding the last top. Then Janja Garnbret made her fourth flash in a row to win the competition. This was as exciting and thrilling as it can get. These three girls have been totally superior in 2018 and their worst result were third. Complete results (c) Heiko Wilhelm

In a rather strange final were all boulders were topped but were most actually had very hard time to move from the start holds on the three first boulders. We saw a nice happy ending with five tops in just six tries on the last boulder and two very popular Slovenians on top. (c) Heiko Wilhelm - Innsbruck 2018 Gregor Vezonik was #50 in the WC 2017 and started out in the same level in 2018 by being #51 in Meiringen. Then in Moscow something kicked in and he was #3 in Moscow and overall in 2018 he ended #5. The overall winner 2018 Jernej Kruder also from Slovenia has a similar story but at a much higher level. In between 2010 and 2017, he has always been in between #8 and 31 overall before winning in great style 2018. Interesting is that Gregor and Jernej have almost opposite approach when it comes to training and climbing focus. Jernej is almost not training indoors at all and instead he enjoys all disciplines including trad and multipitches. Gregor on the other hand has a structured approach mainly focusing on indoor bouldering. 1. Gregor Vezonik 24 SLO 2. Jernej Kruder 23 (9/7) SLO 3. Jakob Schubert 23 (9/11) AUT Complete results

1. Jernej Kruder SLO 442 - Miho Nonaka JPN 500 2. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 400 - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 495 3. Rei Sugimoto JPN 334 - Fanny Gibert FRA 320 4. Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 296 - Janja Garnbret SLO 260 5. Gregor Vezonik SLO 280 - Katja Kadic SLO 246 6. Kokoro Fujii JPN 260 - Stasa Gejo SRB 222 7. Jongwon Chon KOR 247 - Ekatarina Kipriianova RUS 210 8. Tomoaki Akata JPN 218 - Futaba Ito JPN 179 Ten male Japanese in Top-21 and eight female Japanese in Top-31. Overall national ranking: 1. Japan 2 269 2. Slovenia 1 344 3. France 823 4. Austria 735 5. Russia 591

Jernej Kruder is the Boulder World Cup winner 2018 as he made it to the final in Munich at the same time as Tomoa Narasaki ended #9. Interestingly, the Slovenian says he seldom trains indoors and instead he is an outdoor allrounder doing everything also multi-pitches. In the 8a Combined ranking game, the 28 year old is #7 and he is going for Tokyo 2020. (c) Eddie Fowke On his Instagram he reported that during the last week he did a 300 m as well as an 8c sport route. During the last weeks he has also been climbing in Céüse and competed in a DWS as well as in the Lead and Speed WC in Chamonix.

Yuji Fujiwaki, who never has made it to the final, won the semi by being the only one to top all four boulders. Also in the qually, the Japanese was the only one to top all problems. Among the female, Janja Garnbret and Fanny Gibert were tied winners. Both Japan and Slovenia did get two male and two female into the final. In total Japan got 5 female Top-11 and 6 male Top-9. Complete results

Once again the Japanese dominated the boulder qualification with eight guys within Top-14 and a total of nine to the Top-20 semifinal. In the Top-10, there were only Germans and Slovenians accompanying the Japanese. Complete results The Boulder WC in Munich is the seventh and last in the WC 2018. Jernej Kruder leads four points ahead of Tomoa Narasaki so pretty much who wins the battle, if they are Top-9, will be the overall champion. Noteworthy is that 126 athletes competed but only one third managed to do more than one boulder. As many as 29 did a maximum of one zone. Live-streaming of semi and final 12.00 and 18.20.

The medal table for Lead and Bouldering from the Youth World Championship in Moscow says it all; Japan 5 - 1 - 6 Slovenia 1 - 3 - 1 France 1 - 2 - 2 USA 2 - 0 - 0 Complete medal table including Speed. Also last year the Japanese juniors dominated and the big question is what they are doing differently? Based on what their senior coaches, who are almost as successful, as well as talking to some of the best youngsters, we know that Japan training sticks out with minimum structured and complementary physical training. Basically, their focus is mainly just challenging, with a great team spirit, boulders and routes in different gyms around Tokyo. Structured and complimentary physical training is, beside yoga and stretching etc, almost non-existing. Instead, they focus on doing boulders in a group meaning they concentrate on technical and tactical training. Noteworthy is that this was the same success recipe that Adam Ondra used when he was a teenager. It should be noted that runner-up when it comes to medals is Slovenia with just two million inhabitants. They are known for their structured training so obviously there are different possibilities for success.

"Hollywood ending!" The IFSC live-streaming commentator summarizes The Moscow Youth World Championship just after it has finished with two great Tops by Collin Duffy and Natsuki Tanii. Colin, who also won last year in a spectacular show, got four straight Tops and Natsuki did win also in Bouldering in Moscow. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Natsuki Tanii JPN - Colin Duffy USA 2. Nika Potapova UKR - Thomas Podolan AUT 3. YueTong ZHang CHN - Kentaro Maeda JPN Complete results

Gabri Moroni, who was #18 in the Munich Boulder WC, has done Martin Keller's Highlander in Sustenpass giving it a personal 8B+ grade.

Daniel Jung started working on The Recovery Drink in 2012 together with Nico Favresse. Next year he was back when Nico did the FA and also in 2015 and 2017 he made long trips up to the remote Jössingfjord in Norway but no success. This year he was back and some holds broke, making it slightly harder. In the end he had to extend his trip with another four days, before taking down the possibly hardest trad route in the world. As Favresse, Daniel avoids giving a grade but what we know is that the German had to struggle at least as hard for when he did his two 9a+', La Rambla and Coruna. Did you train specifically for doing the Recovery Drink? After the first trip I did some stretching, I was struggling with one move, because I was too stiff. Also I set some volumes on a steep wall of our bouldering gym, Schlüsselstelle. I trained to rest in steep open handjams, that was really good to do. For my last trip, I just new that it is good to arrive with lots of power endurance. So I trained on long boulderproblems, mainly in the night, because it was too hot before 22:00. To train during the summer heat was a hard time. What made this route so important so you did go back for three long dedicated trips? The most important is to send my long time projecting in a beautiful place on a perfect wall. So the Jössingfjord fitted very well. Also, I was sure that I would be able to climb it. The process took a while, but why giving up when I feel close? Also I‘m very bad in giving up! How does it compare also grade wise to the hardest sport routes you have done? I really can’t compare the route, it’s an unique style, a totally different cup of tea compared to what I did before.